REVIEW: Prisoners

19092015

Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners” possesses a remarkable precision in nearly every aspect of its execution. It is palpable in the mood, the performances, the script from Aaron Guzikowski, and especially the photography by Roger Deakins. As the abduction of two children forces a father (Hugh Jackman) to extreme measures of extracting vengeance, the film patiently and methodically follows his descent into an inhumanity on par with his daughter’s abductor.

At times, Villeneuve’s realization of this unraveling feels so airtight that it comes across almost as stifling and constrictive. Somehow, the film feels like it needs to breathe. Yet on further inspection, that is not the case. Villeneuve knows exactly how much oxygen “Prisoners” needs to survive and refuses to dole out any more of it than is necessary to give each scene a pulse. This makes his film burn not only slowly but also consistently, illuminating the depravity of cruelty to children with its steadfast flame.

His exactitude directly counters the nature of the narrative, a complicated ethical story with neither an easy outlet for sympathy nor a character that lends his or herself to identification. The closest figure offered for a connection is Jake Gyllenhaal’s Detective Loki, whose adherence to rationality and order makes him the most level-headed presence in “Prisoners.” He retains a rather detached perspective on the case of the missing girls rather than allowing himself to succumb to the levels of hysteria from the grieving families. If everyone else in the film yells, Loki speaks in a whisper.

In a way, that soft-spoken approach makes for the only major flaw of “Prisoners” that I could find. The film’s audio mix is all over the board; the sound goes in and out, then up and down. I watched it twice at home on two different television sets, but the problem persisted. I often had to rewind and jack up the volume to catch a line of dialogue muttered under someone’s breath. This sotto voce technique makes the film chillingly clinical – so make sure you can hear it in all of its complexities. B+ /